Tag Archives: Austin

While at our teacher training this week at Scottish Rite Theater,I was reminded why Creative Action continues to grow and attract such gifted young artists. Part of the training was to demonstrate to new teachers the power of using teacher-in-role (or acting out a character) to teach a lesson. The demonstration involved using “The Heroes/Los Heroes” show to spotlight how this technique worked. Mitch Bowman and Stephanie Chavez-Noell are the actors in the show and they performed an excerpt. It was great!

The teachers were totally engaged and played the part of Kindergarten students. The story, the humor and the scaffolding of questions built in to the show allow the actors to demonstrate to the children how to solve conflicts at school and at home.

I was so proud of Stephanie and Mitch for carrying on the tradition of “Heroes” just like other shows developed over the years to teach students about such issues as:

Conflict resolution,

World culture, and

Bullying

I understand their commitment to making each show fresh and spontaneous. I was fortunate to perform in “The Heroes/Los Heroes” from 2006-2010. Mitch and Stephanie have added so many nice touches to the performance that it has become uniquely their own.

Once again I was reminded of the amazing opportunity that Creative Action has given to talented Austin artists to practice their craft. Thank you Creative Action!

About The Heroes/Los Heroes

97% of reporting teachers reported they had new tools to help them resolve classroom conflict

60% of teachers saw an increase in students engaging in a four-step conflict resolution process during any given week since receiving the Heroes program.

89% of participating teachers reported their students have been using vocabulary from the program to help them resolve conflict in the classroom

Bagavagbonds artists visited Manor Middle School yesterday to work with Creative Action teaching artist Will Heath and his students on murals to be displayed at Art Migration Austin (presented by smart USA) in a couple days (read more about the Art Migration event here).

This past weekend was Creative Action’s huge fall event I Spy Pie! located at Central Market. The weather was perfect for the family-fun activities offered such as crafts, games, face painting, live music, and of course, pie tasting!

The festivities kicked off at noon including a wonderful performance by the Emmy Award winning duo The Biscuit Brother’s, who did a great job getting the children up off their feet singing and dancing along to the music. One of my favorite parts of the performance was when they had a song about watermelons and needed a participant to count to ten in a language other than English. An adorable little girl stood up, took the microphone and started counting in Arabic and Chinese. It was very impressive.

By 12: 30 p.m., people were lining up to get their tickets to taste the wonderful pies that were offered by Central Market Bakery, Central Market Cooking School, Madison Street Desserts, Tiny Pies and Texas Pie Kitchen. Many UT student organizations, including Tower PR, were there to volunteer at the craft and pie tasting booths.

The two awards up for grabs were Judges Favorite and the People’s Choice. After everyone tasted the contestant’s pies, they were able to cast their vote for which they thought had the tastiest pies. Our three celebrity pie tasting judges Jim Swift, Nina Seely and John Bullington, Executive Chef had a really hard time awarding their favorite pie. They were all so delicious!

The enthusiasm at the event was lively and appetites for pie were at an ultimate high. As the pies underneath the tasting tent began to dwindle down to only crumbs, the awards were announced. Tiny Pies won the People’s Choice award for their delicious Bourbon Buttermilk Chess pie and Madison Street Desserts took home the Judges Favorite award for their Meyer Lemon Meringue pie (which was my personal favorite too!)

It was an amazing day for everyone and how could it get better when we get to taste the best pies in town! A huge thanks to Central Market and all of the bakeries involved for their support towards a great cause!

P.S. My favorite pie is Pecan because a few years ago, I was put in charge of baking pies for a Thanksgiving my friends were hosting. After pulling an all-nighter trying not to screw up or burn one, I finally made a pristine pecan pie and my friends were convinced I was a culinary genius.

Join us at I Spy Pie!on Saturday, October 20th at Central Market North. 12 – 3 p.m.Family fun, arts and crafts and pie for families of all ages!

A unique group of creative teens congregates to collaborate on ideas for a new script to tour in the fall. Before we get that far in our creative process, we have to bond as an ensemble.

That could be difficult for a group of teenagers that are at first strangers to do fairly quickly, but for Changing Lives members it’s not a daunting task. We are brought together by theatre and a common interest in social welfare. As a 3rd year Changing Lives member, this is what brings me back each year. The journey each year is unique; there will never be another group that is the same as the last. Ideas and opinions will differ with the exclusive collaboration of ideas and minds of each year.

I have met the most clever, gifted, and inventive people in Changing Lives, I feel honored to have been able to work with them all. The year ahead is very promising and I’m excited to see what it has in store for the ensemble.

Creative Action (formerly Theatre Action Project) needs your pie-ness. This is creativeness with all things pie for our fall fundraiser,I Spy Pie! Saturday, October 20th at Central Market North. If you’re ready to roll up your sleeves and have fun and help us select the best pie in Austin, we’d love to have you sign up to volunteer. The event features fun family activities, arts and crafts for all ages, pie tastings, and bragging rights for the best pie in Austin. Sign up for 1 or 2 shifts. It’s easy as pie!

PS: My favorite pie is lemon meringue. I have a very distinct memory of being kid crying about something on my back porch and the next door neighbor lady had just made a fresh lemon meringue pie. No more tears after that!

Have you heard jokes about how Austin is one of the few places where people all the time sit around and have conversations about how great the town is? I laugh about it because I have done this multiple times.

I love living here for all the usual reasons– the music, the breakfast tacos, Barton Springs, the vibrant downtown, the heat… but I also realize that this is not always a wonderful place for everyone, and there are significant challenges for many of Austin’s residents. Like so many folks I know, we want to make a positive change here. We want to make this an even better place to live for everyone, but it is not always clear how to go about it.

And that’s why I am thrilled about my new job at Creative Action (formerly Theatre Action Project) where the arts are used as a tool to engage young people and empower them to make positive change in their lives. Through in-school, after school, and community programs Creative Action inspires youth to be:

Creative artists

Courageous allies

Critical thinkers

Confident leaders.

Isn’t that amazing?! I have never before witnessed such engaging and important programming, and I want for it to reach all of our kids.

As the Director of School and Community Outreach I book our in-school programs, and work to identify where our programs are needed. If you are interested, please contact me to find out more: shobie@theatreactionproject.org